Photos taken in 2006

Historic Joe Becker Stadium is probably best known for being Mickey Mantle's home ballpark during his second year of professional baseball. While the park was built in 1918, obviously only the field remains from the original structure. Apparently the park has burned down twice, the last time in 1971. So the metal structure that stands here now was erected sometime after '71. Minor league baseball hasn't been played here since 1954, though apparently it still gets plenty of use by amateur teams (including Missouri Southern University). After several years of talk about renovating Joe Becker to accommodate a minor league team, plans finally came to fruition in 2015. The American Association added a new team to play in Joplin, and awaiting them will be an almost entirely new ballpark.